The Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, officially inaugurated the first cargo movement along the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor during his inaugural tour on Tuesday.
The minister commenced his tour at the Ebute Meta station, where he embarked on a journey that would signify a significant leap in Nigeria’s transportation infrastructure. From there, he proceeded to Apapa for a grand launch ceremony before embarking on a historic trip to Ibadan, traversing the impressive 157 km rail corridor.
The landmark event saw the loading of three coaches, each comprising 30 wagons, as part of the inaugural freight movement.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) announced that they would commence operations with three coaches per day, with the Managing Director expressing confidence in the corporation’s ability to expand its operations in the future.
This important development is poised to alleviate the longstanding congestion issues at the Apapa port, where a staggering 92.28 percent of Nigeria’s total exports and 60.77 percent of imports were handled in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1’22).
